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E05313: Very small fragment of a Latin epitaph, probably mentioning ‘holy spirits’/spirita sancta. Found in the cemetery of Cyriaca ad Sanctum Laurentium, via Tiburtina, Rome. Probably second 4th c.

online resource

posted on 2018-04-12, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

[- - -] spirita [- - -]

'[- - -] spirits [- - -]'

Text: ICVR, n.s., VII, no. 19602B = EDB31011.

History

Evidence ID

E05313

Saint Name

Martyrs, unnamed or name lost : S00060 Saints, unnamed : S00518

Saint Name in Source

spirita sancta spirita sancta

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions Archaeological and architectural - Internal cult fixtures (crypts, ciboria, etc.)

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

350

Evidence not after

400

Activity not before

350

Activity not after

400

Place of Evidence - Region

Rome and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Suburban catacombs and cemeteries Rome Rome Roma Ῥώμη Rhōmē

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - crypt/ crypt with relics

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Source

Marble plaque, now lost. Found in the 17th c. in the Cemetery of Cyriaca, and recorded under the day 13 February 1660 in the Regesta Sacrarii Pontificii. First published in 1980 by Antonio Ferrua, from the manuscript.

Discussion

Antonio Ferrua supposes that the inscription refers to the 'holy spirits'/spirita sancta, often invoked in the suburban cemeteries of Rome. These can be unnamed martyrs and saints buried in the cemetery, but also the souls of the ordinary deceased Christians. Dating: The editors of the Epigraphic Database Bari date the inscription to the 4th c.

Bibliography

Edition: Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB31011, see http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/31011 De Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 19602b. Regesta Sacrarii Pontificii I f. 23 (13 February 1660).